Apparatus for moistening yarns.



V. E.,MBRTZ.

APPARATUS FOR MOISTENING YARNS.

APPLICATION rum) FEB. 7, 191a.

, 1,103,806. Patented July 14,191

vroron n. MERTZ, or new roan, n. Y.

APPARATUS FOR MOISTENING Specification ofl Letters Patent.

' Patented July 14,

Applleationflled February 7, 181$. fierialimo'. 746,908.

tening' of fibrous material as weaving or knitting-machine yarns, whereby, to obtain, first, a uniform impregnation of the material with moisture; second, the introduction of a maximum'amount of moisture into the material; and third, the retaining by the material'for a relatively long period, of approximately the whole amount of moisture applied thereto. And to these ends the invention resides in apparatus functioning todraw air from between the fibers and the cells of the fibers, then operating to introduce moisture into the places from which th air has been drawn.

Other. objects will appear and be better understood from that embodiment of my invention of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the device. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section.

One embodiment. of apparatus used in connection with my method for moistening yarns is shown in the drawings and comprises a vacuum chamber, a moistening de-' vice in the form of water and steam supply pipes indicated respectively, by 6 and 7 independent operating cooling devices in the form of a water jacket 8 surrounding the I chamber 5, and the-other in the formof a spray pipe 9 directed into the chamber, and a circulating pipe 10. The chamber 5 has one end closed by an end wall 11 through which one end of an exhaust pipe 12 is directed and the other end of this pipe 12 is suitably connected to the receiver of a vacuum pump, not herein shown. The wall 11 is also tapped at its upper, lower and interortions for the cooling, moistening and circulating pipes 9 and 6, and 7 and 10 respectively, the first-named of these being connected to a suitable cold water supply (not shown) and having on the portion withchamber. The second-named pipes 6 and '7 are located in the lower porarranged in spaced v,plpe 20 isa valve 21 for in the chamber 5,a double series of spraymg nozzles 13 arranged so -as to spray or direct the fluid in a horizontal direction onto the wall ofthe chamber to which it is held by capillarity until it descends into the body of ll quid 14, in the bottom f the tion of the chamber and relation to the bottom thereof. The pipe 6 is connected to a suitable source of steam supply and the pipe 7 is connected to a suite able source of liquid supply. Each of these pipes has a series: nozzles 15 adapted for atomizing or spraying the fluid as the same passes into the chamber. One end of the circulating pipe 10 is directed through the end wall 11 and its opposite end directed upwardly through the bottom of the chamher and at a point near the and remote from the wall 11. Passage through this pipe 10 is controlled by the valves 16 and 17, and arranged in the pipe and between the said or moistening valves is a chamber 18 in which are arranged a plurality of pipes 19 each of which has ipe connection 20 to a suitable source of liquid supply (not shown) and in each controlling the peesage of liquid from the point of supply to th ipe 19 to which it 18 connected. The pipes 19 are each provided with a series of nozzles 22 and the arrangement of these nozzles is such as to admit of the nozzles in the upper pair of pipes shown in Fig. 2, to direct the liquid enterin the chamber in a direction opposite from t at which the said liquid is directed upon entering the chamher by thenozzles in the-lower pair of pipes. Access to the interior of the chamber is bad through the end remote from the end wall 11, a door or cover 23 being provided for closing this open end during the operation of moistening the yarn. Any improved means may be employed or adopted for fastening the door 23 to the chamber, as the winged nuts 24 which bolts 25.

. The material, such as yarn to be moistened is arranged in a suitable receptacle and this receptacle is placed upon a truck or car 26 which with its load when the door 23 is opened, is directed into the chamber and guided so that the wheels of the truck 27 will take the track rails 28 suitably fastened to the inner surface of the chamber. Now

M0 operate on the withthe car audits load arranged in the casing and the door 23 closed and secured so as to prevent the entrance of air into the chamber, the air pump connected to the pipe 12 is started and permittedto operate until the required percentage of vacuum is had in the chamber, asuitable gage 26 being .em-

ployed to indicate various percentages of vacuum possible tohe. had in the chamber. It will be understood that durin the operation of drawing .the air from t e chamber.

,fibers, hence it will be seenthat-when the gage 26 indicates the obtaining of the 're-' quired percentage of vacuuminthe chamber which percentage maybe anywhere be tween twentfy and seventy-fiveaccordinp ltlo the desire 0 he user or the character 0 t e particular kind of yarninhand, the said I yarn will be conditionedso as toreceive between its 23.9

fibersand into the cells of those fibers, an amount ofsmeisture equal in. volanne,- or;substantially-so to that ofthe air drawn. from the yarn. This operation .of drawing air from the yarn and easing forms the first *step in" my -method hereinbefore mentioned, and the succeeding step resides in opening the valves of the pipes 6 and 7,

toadmit steam and water into the chamber. The character'of the steam used is prefermy low pressure, but super-heated steam may be'employed if the character of the work-in handdemands. The water passing through the pipe 7 may be above or below the normal (63 degrees Fahrenheit) but preference is given to the higher temperatures since the vaporizing of water at such temperatures by the steam is more readily elfected. Now when these several details in .point of temperature have been determined upon and the steam and water admitted into the chamber, the interior thereof becomes filled with an aqueous vapor or fog resulting from the mixing of the steam.

Since the best results in the operation of impregnating or hydrating of yarns is had with vapor of a constant and predetermined temperature, such temperature is maintained in the chamber by the'water which circulates through the water jacket 8. In this instance the water enters the jacket through one of the pipes such as the pipe 29 and leaves the chamber through the opposite tube 30. In addition to the elfect produced on the vapor in the chamber .5 by the water in the jacket 8 the cooling of the vapor in the chamber may be accelerated by admitting water into the pipe 9. 4 In practice, however, water is admitted into the pipe 9 preferably only after the hydrating of the yarns and is at this time admitted solely for the purpose of reduci the temperature of the vapor in the cham er to substantially that of the outside atmosphere so that upon the opening of the door 23 in the chamber, the moisture in such yarn will, on account of its having a temperature substantially the same as the outside atmosphere, be unaffected or vaporized by virtue of the outside temperature into which it is taken from the chamber. It might here be stated that the vapor resulting in the chamber from the introduction thereinto of the is used for moistening 1n the cells and inner fibers of the yarns, and upon the closing of the fluid supplies tothe pipes 6 and 7, the moisture in the casing is relatively. dry and not eflicient for moistening the surfaces of the yarns. Therefore, the third step in my method consists in super-saturating this vapor remaining in the chamber and this supersaturation is effected by opening the valves I6-17 and the horizontally alining valves 21. Now if the upper of these last- -named valves as shown in Fig. 2, be 0 ned then the water passing from the nozz es 22 will move to the left in Fig. 1 and upwardly through the left hand end portion of the pipe in the said figure. This will have the effect of drawing the vapor from the casing through the upright right hand end of the said pipe which vapor upon passing into the chamber 18, will commingle with the spray from the nozzles 22 so that when it retinters the casing at the point on the left in the said figure, it will contain a greater percentage of Water than at first. Thus, it will be seen that the action of the spray from the nozzles 22 will set up a circulation of the vapor in the chamber in addition to additionally saturating the same. Now it will be manifest that after the vapor has been circulated as just described, or in a clockwise direction, the temperature of the moisture which has remained undisturbed for a relatively long time in the chamber, will be considerably higher than that which previously entered the chamber and since this vapor of higher temperature will actually be at the upper part of the chamber itmay found desirable to change the direction of circulation of the vapor through the pipe 10 in order to expeditiously increase the amount of water in aforesaid vapor of higher temperature, and this is done by closing the valves which control the circulation of the water in a clockwise direction and opening the lower valves in Fig. 2 which will admit the Water to the lower nozzles and thus cause a circulation through operation of removing the yarn from the steam and water through the pipes 6 and 7,

' the pipe and chamber in a contra-clockdirection.

In instances where a relatively high per- 1 the following manner: The temperature .of

. the door closed and sealed airtight.

I the interior of the chamber is raised'con- This siderably above that on the outside. may be done by admitting steam into the chamber from one of the steam supply pipes directed thereinto. Now this raislng of the interior temperature will have the efiect of rarefying the air within the chamber, consequently the atmospheric pressure within the chamber Will be less thanthe outside pressure. It will be understood, of course, that during this operation the door 23 is open. Now with the interior of the chamber. conditioned as just described the material to be impregnated is introduced into the chamber as previously described, g nd he next step consists in contractin the volume of air Within the chamber an thisv is accomplished by circulating relatively cold .Waterthrough the water jacket 8. Now with tracting the circulation of water througha volume the air within the chamber thus 30 contracted, obviously, the cells of am or other material contained in the c amber, will open by virtue of the reduction of sure resulting from the contraction 0 air volume, so that when vapor is created in the chamber in the manner previously described, the said vapor wlll readlly find its way into the cells of the material contained ii -the chamber. 1 It is obvious that by conthe jacket 8 various percentages of vacuum may be hadin the chamber, for instance when the water is permitted to circulate only very slow through the jacket, the percentage of vacuum in the chamber will be is rapid.

What is claimed as new is:

1. Apparatus for moistening fibrous material, comprising a vacuum chamber having a door at one end thereof, a fluid conveying pipe directed into the said chamber and adapted to discharge therein, and means for circulating a cooling a ent around the surface of the chamber for the purpose delower than in instances where the circulation scribed.

2. Apparatus for moistening fibrous material, comprising a vacuum chamber having a door at one end thereof, a steam pipe directed into the said chamber and adapted to discharge therein, and means for circulating a cooling agent around the surface of the chamber for the purpose described.

, 3. Apparatus for molstening fibrous material, comprising a vacuum chamber, a plurality of steam and water ipes directed into the said chamber and a apted to discharge therein, a circulating pipe having its 0 posite ends directed into the chamberand having one of its endsarranged higher in the chamber than the other end, a series of nozzles connected to fluid supply pipes and located in the circulating pipe and adapted for directing liquid to move in one direction through the said circulating pipe' and a second series of nozzles connecte with fluid supply pi es and arranged in the circulating pipe an adapted for directing liquid to move throughthe supply pipe 1n a directionopposite from that had with the first series, and a water jacket connected with thevacuum chamber.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VICTOR E. MERTZ.

Witnesses:

M. E. LAUGHLIN, Geo. A. BYRNE. 

